OAS – When Raw Fruit is Forbidden
A life with OAS means only cooked or baked fruit. Crisp, raw fruit, how I miss you.
Cradling a fresh, succulent peach in my hands, I take in its tantalizing aroma. I rub the fuzz lightly on my lips before taking a big, juice-dripping bite. Delicious.
I swallow, and the tingling begins. First on my tongue, then throughout my mouth and my throat. Tingling becomes itching: there is no stranger feeling than an itchy tongue. That bane of the fruit-loving, Oral Allergy Syndrome, has kicked in.
OAS (also known as pollen-food syndrome) is an allergic reaction to certain proteins in a variety of fruits, vegetables and nuts. The symptoms include itching and burning of the lips, mouth and throat. In more serious reactions, there may be swelling of the mouth, back of the throat and windpipe as well as hives.
Those of us with the condition usually develop symptoms within minutes of eating the food, and they typically dissipate in less than 15 minutes. Just enough time to make a person go a bit crazy.
For me, the itching can be counteracted by eating a neutral substance such as bread or by drinking water. Fortunately, OAS is rarely severe.
“For the majority of people, this is not a real life-threatening problem like true food allergies,” explains Dr. Bruce Mazer, director of the division of allergy and immunology at Montreal Children’s Hospital and an associate professor at McGill University.
Raw vs. Cooked
OAS sufferers react to raw fruit, but are usually able to eat the same food cooked without a problem. “Typically we see OAS in people allergic to heat labile protein, which means those proteins easily destroyed by heat,” explains Dr. Paul Keith, an associate professor of allergy and clinical immunology at McMaster University in Hamilton.
“When you eat the fruit raw, it’s your own body’s heat that breaks down the protein, which is why the reaction doesn’t move beyond the mouth, says Keith, who’s also an investigator for AllerGen, the allergy research network.
I know the raw versus cooked issue first-hand. When I eat uncooked fruits like apples, cherries, pears and my beloved peaches, they all cause itching. But bake them in a pie and I can eat to my heart’s content, without so much as a tingle.
I remember eating apples as a youngster with no problems, but then one day, my tongue got really itchy afterward. As my mother couldn’t see anything on my tongue, she assumed I was trying to get out of eating the fruit. Then it happened again, and with different fruits. Because they couldn’t see a problem, my parents thought I was just fussing. But they did stop giving me the troublesome fruits.
By my late teens, I started trying these fruits again, in small amounts. Sometimes I got an intense itch in my mouth and throat, sometimes it was minor. If I craved the juicy goodness, I’d eat the fruits anyhow – since the itch always went away.
Once, however, I ravenously ate a whole peach. This time itchiness turned to swelling: my lips got puffy and I felt like I couldn’t swallow. The episode subsided in half an hour. I was miserable, yet vindicated, since my parents finally believed there was an allergic reaction. We asked a couple of doctors, but no one could pinpoint the condition. They advised that I avoid the offending fruits like any major food allergy, and that put an end to my fruit infatuation.
Fortunately, awareness of OAS is growing. But how can you be sure if you have it?
Next Page: Diagnosing OAS
jmneiderer
Thank you for this. I was dx with OAS a few months ago and no one has every heard of it, although the doctor said it was very common! Glad that info is getting out there! I was given a ‘script for an epi pen and told to avoid all the foods I was reacting to (so far only Almonds, even when baked as flour), I think it’s important to mention that they can become life threatening and if you’re reacting to a certain food to the point where things are swelling it’s probably a good idea to avoid them!
wessexcathedral
People need to know this, so I am putting a previous comment I made on this article too: I have suffered from OAS my entire life, since I was a baby. I never knew what it was but always ate the offending fruits/vegetables. Most if not all, I had a reaction to–my mouth would break out in hives, swell up, tingle at first and then itch. Then my ears would begin to itch. Not much later I would have diarrhea, followed by break-outs all over my body in little patches of eczema. Once an adult and in my twenties, I started to get sick all the time. A friend, whose husband has the same condition advised me to stop eating raw food. Once I stopped, I was never sick again. It has been ten years since then. My hay fever is very bad, so I started eating raw, natural but LOCAL honey, about one to two teaspoons daily. Ever since (it has been two years of doing this) I have been able to eat raw fruits and veggies without a single reaction. My hay fever is gone. When ingesting the actual pollen in the honey, my body can build a resistance. I recommend people with OAS to eat local honey. It works wonders and is natural. It is the first time in my life where I am able to eat things like a normal human being.
Gwen Smith
WC, I find local honey fascinating, too. But unfortunately, when Allergic Living has looked into it, we’ve found conflicting studies. Because bees pick up local pollen, it seems some people, like you, report improvement in symptoms, a sort of desensitizing effect no doubt. However, some reports show people with hay fever or OAS who eat local honey get worse symptoms – they’re not getting that same effect and instead just being exposed to that allergen. Glad it’s working for you. But drat it, doesn’t appear to be a panacea for all.
canteatraw
I have OAS very bad. It started about 15 years ago and has been getting worse to the point now where I likely go into anaphylatic shock if I consume a raw fruit OR a raw vegetable. I am so devastated over all of this. About 18 months ago I went gluten-free too because I had symptoms of Celiac disease. Now I think I have GERD and just want to be fed via an IV! I am sick of food, what I can have what I can’t. I’ve forced my children and my husband to be mostly GF in the house but they are resisting. I used to be sick of servers in restaurants giving me attitude when I ask for things not to be on my meal, I’ve stopped being able to go out for a meal anyway. I feel like I am the only one on the planet with allergies this severe. My next step is allergy shots. I have been wanting to try local raw honey but I am allergic to honey!! I am also allergic to bee stings too…. and get SEVERE hay fever in the Spring.
If anyone has other things that worked for them or are in the same position as me, I’d love to hear from you as its lonely and I feel really badly about all of these restrictions. And its not really all that healthy either since I don’t get a lot of nutrients since I have to cook every raw veggie or raw fruit to death. These allergies have also made me anemic too so I have to take iron supplements.